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The Best People Need the Best People
When Lyndon Johnson entered the Senate, he was one of the first Senators to understand the power of a high-caliber staff. During key Senate hearings about the Korean War, Richard Russell of Georgia, the most powerful Senator of the time, borrowed some of Johnson’s staff to support his hearings. Every evening, two legal staff prepared an analysis of the day’s sessions and created questions for Russell to ask the next day. Every morning, a public relations staff member prepared an opening statement for Russell that communicated key insights from the session the day before. Even without staff support, Russell would have led successful hearings – he was a brilliant student of U.S. military policy. However, the hearings were more effective and more efficient because of the staff Johnson loaned to him. From that day forward in Washington, Congressional staff became key players in the political drama. And, having learned this lesson from the first-term Senator from Texas, Richard Russell predicted that Lyndon Johnson could one day be President.
Performance Principle: The best people need the best people. The most effective people realize that they have a better chance of winning if they build the right team of people around them. Many of us are control freaks. We feel better if we can have our hands in every project and every decision. In so doing, we are limiting our results and impact. We must learn to let go and rely upon the intelligence and abilities of others. Don’t focus just on what you can accomplish yourself. Focus on what you can accomplish with the right team of people around you.
Questions to Consider:
- Are you a control freak?
- What responsibilities are you doing today that someone else could do better?
- How can you surround yourself with talented people and leverage their abilities to get better results?
